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Friday, July 14, 2017

$8M fraud against Alberta Motor Association leads to charges

James Gladden

Edmonton police have charged a former vice president at the Alberta Motor Association. Investigators determined more than $8 million had allegedly been stolen between March 2011 and June 2016. Gladden bought lavish homes and vehicles.

A lawsuit also names Gladden’s wife, Dana, and several companies he was involved in.

James Gladden, Dana Gladden

Gladden's home in Edmonton

A judge had granted an injunction freezing Gladden’s properties and assets, including a home in Arizona, a boat, two Porsches and a Maserati. Gladden authorized fake invoices and wired payments to various banks in the United States and China.

The suit also claims Gladden bought an extravagant home in southwest Edmonton and a downtown office building with the embezzled money.

Gladden's Scottsdale House

Gladden was allowed to work from home in August 2015 because of a leg injury. He did not recover quickly, remained away from his office for many months and failed to show up for meetings. He was asked to go on disability leave but refused. He was ordered to take disability and, after being replaced, questions surfaced about his invoices. Gladden was fired.

The Alberta Motor Association has more than 973,000 members and advocates for traffic safety, travel, consumer protection and crime prevention. The AMA said in a statement that insurance will cover any financial losses and customer information has not been compromised. It added that additional controls have been put in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.